LAUREN by Tony Colella

She's a beauty in brown bangsfloating far above old kingdoms,whipper of those sands whenshe flies to the earth beneathher plane's wings and steps intothe summer of the queens,coming homefrom another world with a pack inone hand, a brush in anotherShe'll flush out the stories of herlong-dead mothers. She saysshe no longer wants this sun orthese sphinxes, she is readyfor conditioned white hallsbeyond sandboxes. When shebuilds, her blocks still mirrorthe Niles overhead in thebeautiful days of Hatshepsut.